Monday, January 16, 2006

Lalu's cattlehouse dilemma

The new government of Bihar has issued another eviction notice to Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi. And this time too, the couple paid little heed to it. What are the motives behind the reluctance to move to their new bungalow, 10 Circular road? For the last 15 years, Lalu was living in 1, Anne Marg, the official residence of Chief Minister. It is very difficult to leave a place where one has been living for such a long time. But the real reason behind the reluctance is something different.Lalu has a big flock of cows, goat and such animals. He got around 200 cattle in his CM Residence., Finding a suitable accommodation for them is the first problem. The new residence offer less space and this means they have to shift their cattle to some other place.Next thing is the defiance that is associated with this man. He is used to issue orders, not to take it. Now that he is at the other end of it, he finds it real hard to swallow and trying to create an issue out of it. That is why leaders of his party dared the government to evict them forcibly. He is adept in this kind of games and can turn a mole into a mountain and thus diverting public attention from his humiliating defeat and project himself as victimized.Another strategy is to humiliate the CM, Nitish Kumar by not vacating the house. Nitish is stuck in no mans land. He can’t forcibly evict them. That will give Lalu an Image of a martyr, a much needed one for him. On the other hand he has to enforce the law. By not vacating, Lalu is doing more damage to this Nitish Government. He is proving that, rule or no rule, he is still above the law. Those same bureaucrats who did all unthinkable things for Lalu has now switched ships. Lalu has bee quoted saying “The particular official who served the notice is doing tabar tod tel Malish (trying to placate) Nitish. He has been doing it for me the last 15 years”. This sums up his mood and his fear about a backlash of his own doings. Delaying the in-evitable seems to be the mantra of the former first couple. But in the end, they had to move out from what is not theirs. This man doesn’t know how to do things honorably, it seems. The meaningless reasons such as inauspicious time and consulting astrologers is making him a laughing stock. Oh, I forgot that he IS the laughing stock of whole nation. May be it is his clownish image that keeps him doing anything with respectability.

The layperson of Bihar may not understand the real reason behind the eviction or the term Chief Minister's Residence. For them it is Lalu's house. The only thing matters to them is one is forcibly kicked out from one's house and this will create a sympathetic wave. And trust me, Lalu will do whatever he can to spice it up in his favour.